VIRGINIA (DC News Now) — Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin asked a state senator and a delegate to sponsor legislation requiring schools to inform students and their parents about National Merit Scholarships and other awards.

This request came after a discovery that Fairfax County had been withholding National Merit awards from students. Youngkin said that Loudoun and Prince William counties had also delayed notifying students of their National Merit recognition.

Youngkin had asked Attorney General Jason Miyares to launch an investigation into Loudoun County schools earlier this month.

“We now know that at least 16 schools across three different school divisions in Northern Virginia withheld notification of accolades from high-performing students in the name of ‘equity.’ Parents are rightfully upset and they should be,” Youngkin said in a release.

Younkin’s office said that the legislation would “prohibit any school board, public school, including Governor’s Schools, or employee from withholding recognition, awards, or postsecondary scholarship eligibility earned by a student who was transferred solely to a school system.”

The statement said that this legislation would not impact AG Miyares’s current investigation.

Youngkin asked Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-Henrico) and Delegate Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) to sponsor the proposed legislation.

“There has been a pattern of multiple schools withholding information regarding merit awards from students and parents. This legislation is a common sense solution that will prevent discrimination against students who have worked hard and earned recognition,” Dunnavant said in the release.